I can't take any credit for this one. DH had the whole idea, gutted and carved them, and came up with the eye idea. I picked out the pumpkins, made dinner while he was carving, and toasted seeds.

Behold, pac-man and ghosties!

Pretty basic, especially considering some of the advanced carving I've seen here, but I thought it was a neat idea! He used pieces of wire clothes hangers to hang the eyes on the ghosts. It looks even cooler in the dark:

I complained that Pac-man was in the wrong position - he should be chased by the ghosts, I think. To which DH replied, "Not with a power pill!"

Unfortunately, it's been really warm here - in the 80s during the day - and after two days outside the pumpkins looked rather forlorn. Mold, fruit flies, squishiness. Ugh. We tried spraying with a bleach/water solution, but it was too late. They went to the dumpster with a satisfying splatty sound. At least we got some pictures...

I read something a while back that said to soak the pumpkins in bleach water for a few hours, rinse, then thoroughly dry. Then coat the inside with Vaseline or Crisco or something and to cover them in plastic wrap and refrigerate when not outside at night.

not sure how to preserve pumpkins, but a few years ago i switched to the foam ones that you can get at craft stores. they carve up just like regular pumpkins and they last forever! it's nice because if you buy and carve a new one every year, you'll get a good collection after a few years. they sell them pretty cheap after halloween.